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Food Standards News 64 

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 New Australian parliamentary Secretary and NZ minister for food

CEO's message

Australia Day and Waitangi Day FSANZ staff achievement awards 2008

FSANZ follows new strategies to help developing APEC economies

Health Claims Standard nearly there

The FSANZ Consumer Liaison Committee expands

Egg standard moves forward

New amendments gazetted this year

FSANZ seeks expressions of interest for Social Science Expert Advisory Group

Bi-national consumer attitudes survey shows most people are positive about food safety

Food standard for mandatory iodine fortification gazetted in New Zealand with Australia to follow

Chair of UK Food Standards Agency meets FSANZ Board

FSANZ holds more conferences over the internet

Obesity seminar an eye opener

Food industry ‘Pantry List’ advises on food safety in emergencies

New Australian Parliamentary Secretary and NZ Minister for Food Safety

The Australian and New Zealand Governments have both recently appointed new people to their respective ministries with responsibility for food

In November 2007 Lianne Dalziel became New Zealand Minister for Food Safety and Associate Justice, in addition to her existing portfolio of Commerce.

Senator for Queensland, Jan McLucas, became the Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing following the election of the new Australian  Government last November. The appointment gives Senator McLucas responsibility for FSANZ.

FSANZ Chairman Rob Knowles and Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon briefed Senator McLucas on the agency’s activities at a face to face meeting last December.

Senator McLucas told Food Standards News she welcomes her new responsibility.  “Food safety is rightfully a central expectation of society,” Senator McLucas said.

“FSANZ is at the front line of ensuring that our expectations are met.  “Australia and New Zealand’s food industries are both countries’ largest manufacturing sectors, and FSANZ can be proud that consumers continue to be protected by world’s-best-practice food safety systems.”

Senator McLucas was born on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland and taught as a primary school teacher, mainly in north Queensland, for 10 years. She began public life with her election as a Cairns City Councillor in 1995, and entered the Senate in July 1999. From November 2004 to November 2007, Senator McLucas was the Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers.

New Zealand’s new Food Safety Minister, Lianne Dalziel, was appointed following a Cabinet reshuffle in November last year, and sees her new role as a very good fit with her existing responsibilities as Commerce Minister.  “I am a strong advocate for evidence-based standards not only in the food safety field, but also within New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure which is part of the Commerce portfolio,” Ms Dalziel told Food Standards News .

“The need to set standards that are consistent, achievable and measurable, and in which the consumer and our overseas markets can have confidence, is as crucial to food safety as it is to commerce.

“I am also a strong supporter of trans-Tasman collaboration and again, in my Commerce role, have ensured that there are cross-appointments on relevant regulatory bodies. FSANZ is a joint regulator, which I believe is ideal in terms of providing the assurance Australian and New Zealand consumers want around food, through the Food Treaty.

“I value the trans-Tasman relationship, and it’s one I can foster in my new role.”

Ms Dalziel was elected to Parliament in 1990 and served two terms as MP for Christchurch Central, one term as a Labour List MP and is into her third term as MP for Christchurch East. She is a barrister with a law degree from Canterbury University and had a background in the union movement before entering Parliament.

CEO's message

“A new Australian Government has been elected,” Mr McCutcheon said. “As a result of that, we have a new Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon. Nicola Roxon, and a new Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator the Hon. Jan McLucas, who has portfolio responsibility for FSANZ. We also have a new Food Minister in New Zealand, the Hon. Lianne Dalziel. (See cover story)

The Board Chairman, Rob Knowles, and I have not wasted any time in getting to know our new Ministers.   They met with Minister Dalziel in Wellington on 11 December 2007 and with Parliamentary Secretary McLucas in Canberra on 14 December 2007 to brief them on FSANZ and its activities.

Meanwhile, has continued on a range of issues with some significant milestones to report.     The most notable achievement is the completion of the Nutrition, Health & Related Claims Standard.   Work on this project commenced in December 2003 and has been a real test of FSANZ’s capacity to undertake a complex task in a difficult operating environment, particularly in respect of the diversity of stakeholder views around the Standard.    The new Standard has been submitted to the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council for consideration.

FSANZ continues to be involved in work around fortification of the food supply chain.  A new Proposal has been raised to prepare a standard for mandatory iodine fortification in Australia to address issues around iodine deficiency in certain parts and sub-populations of Australia – using the New Zealand-only standard for mandatory iodine fortification (which was developed late in 2007 by FSANZ) as the basis of this work.   FSANZ is also assisting the Implementation Sub Committee (ISC) in its work to provide advice on the most effective compliance monitoring approaches for the mandatory folic acid fortification standard as well as developing communication and education initiatives for this standard, which will come into effect in Australia and New Zealand in late 2009.

Allergens in food continue to be a topical issue in the general community.   We are investigating whether the information currently available is sufficient and are considering whether we need to make available more information to improve allergen awareness among consumers.

On the subject of media coverage of food issues, consumers were very interested in the detection of higher than usual levels of naturally occurring cyanide in the cassava ingredient of cassava-based vegetable crackers, a discovery which prompted the invoking of the National Incident Response Protocol.   Our principal role in this protocol was to conduct a risk assessment and provide advice on guideline levels of cyanide in cassava chips and on the best analytical methods to detect it. We have raised a Proposal to establish a maximum level for these types of products in the Food Standards Code.

Consulting with our stakeholders and understanding their views on food standards-related issues continues to be a high priority for FSANZ.   The jewel in our crown for consulting with consumers is the Consumer Liaison Committee that we established late in 2005. This committee is of immense value to FSANZ in helping us to keep us in touch with grass roots consumer attitudes. We recently expanded the committee to include six new members, taking the committee’s total to 17. (See more on the CLC on Page 6 of this newsletter).   I also met recently with CHOICE (formerly known as the Australian Consumers Association) and the New Zealand Consumers Institute for some first hand dialogue on food standards matters.

We continue to maintain a strong connection with representatives of the food industry. The Retailers and Manufacturers Liaison Committee remains our pre-eminent consultative forum with industry. It recently met in Canberra.   I have also been meeting with many of our peak industry stakeholder organisations for discussions on a range of issues relevant to FSANZ’s work.   Developing and maintaining these relationships is critical for FSANZ in our endeavours to build up trust and confidence in our work.

FSANZ staff, and the broad range of skills and expertise that they bring to our organisation, remain the cornerstone of our capacity to deliver food regulatory measures that are underpinned by sound science and solid evidence.  

We have just announced some senior appointments in the organisation.

These appointments will were gazetted in April.

Lastly, on matters of housekeeping, we have decided to maintain our Canberra office in Boeing House in Barton, so you still know where we live. We have also leased some additional space in the ground floor where our new reception area will be located.   So when you next visit us, it will be a simple matter of calling into the reception area and being ushered to your appointment.”

Australia Day and Waitangi Day FSANZ staff achievement awards 2008

In recognition that FSANZ is a genuinely bi-national agency, this year we presented staff achievement awards to deserving people in honour of each country’s national day.

In New Zealand for the recent FSANZ Board meeting, Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon presented the inaugural Waitangi Day Achievement Award.  The Waitangi Day Achievement Award has been inaugurated this year to mirror arrangements which have been in place for some years in Australia with the Australia Day Achievement Medallion,” Mr McCutcheon said.  Centrepiece of the Award is a triple twist pikorua bone with paua shell insert. The pendant represents the joining of cultures and the bonding of friendship.”

Lisa Katzer was the recipient of the award for her excellence in providing technical and administration support for the Kahui Kounga Kai - the Maori Reference Group – and for teamwork within the New Zealand office and the Labelling and Information Standards Section.  “She is highly regarded by members of the Kahui – and by us - for these qualities and for her sensitivity to the needs of Maori.   I particularly value her attention to detail and polite but insistent approach to ensure the Kahui’s activities are cared for and objectives met, ' Mr McCutcheon said.

He presented the Australia Day Achievement Medallion in Canberra to Rob Keane, whom he described as the quiet achiever of Product Safety Standards.  'Rob is one of those back room people at FSANZ, so often unsung and who chooses to keep out of the spotlight, but who is one of our most diligent workers,” Mr McCutcheon said.

While in Wellington Mr McCutcheon also presented a FSANZ Quarterly Award to Tracey Cridge, a member of the Labelling and Information Standards Section, for making a significant contribution to FSANZ through a range of standards development activities.  

Back in Canberra Mr McCutcheon presented Quarterly Awards to Jenny Trudinger and Lucinda Barlow for their dedication and attention to detail in the performance of their duties.

Mr McCutcheon said the awards are only presented to staff members exhibiting the very highest standards in public service and corporate achievement.

FSANZ follows new strategies to help developing APEC economies

FSANZ is working with fellow Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies to develop a strategy to improve food safety standards and practices in the region. 

After the April 2007 APEC Forum in the Hunter Valley and the subsequent APEC Economic Leaders meeting in Sydney late in 2007, delegates agreed that food safety is a priority area for action globally and directed FSANZ, in conjunction with its Forum Co-Chairs and colleagues, to develop a strategy to meet this need.

This strategy was distributed to APEC through the Sub-Committee for Standards and Conformance in February 2008. The Forum will need to report its progress against the strategy to APEC Ministers by the end of 2008.

Projects that FSANZ is working on as part of the Strategic Approach 2007 – 2009 include:

Managing Microbiological Food Safety Risks Training Workshop

This is an AusAid-funded capacity building project that FSANZ will carry out in Indonesia, Viet Nam, China, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of the Philippines. The aim is to develop these countries’ knowledge, expertise and skills in assessing and managing microbiological food safety risks using the process of risk analysis. 

The first phase of the training program involved an intensive training workshop. Feedback from all participants was very positive. As part of the second phase, the participants did practical field work on selected food commodities and microbiological hazards in a series of in-country case studies.  The third and final stage was a recent follow-up workshop in December 2007, where participants presented the findings of their work.

Strengthening the capability to assess the capacity building needs of food control systems and develop capacity building action plans for developing APEC Member Economies

This is a capacity building activity funded by the Standards & Trade Development Facility. It will be carried out by FSANZ and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and hosted by the proposer, China. This is the first time FSANZ has collaborated with the FAO in implementing a capacity building activity. APEC Economies taking part are: Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The goal is to improve the capacity of developing APEC Member Economies to build activities that enhance the safety and quality of food and thereby improve public health and encourage trade .

Activities associated with the capacity building activity will include :

The project will complement the work of the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum. The knowledge and skills that participants develop to plan and carry out their own assessments of the capacity needs of their national food control systems will feed directly into the ongoing work program of the APEC Forum.

Meanwhile, FSANZ Chief Scientist Dr Paul Brent gave a keynote address at the High Level International Food Safety Forum – Enhancing Food Safety in a Global Community , held in Beijing, China.

Dr Brent’s address was on the subject ‘APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum - Strengthening Food Safety Standards and Practices’.

Madame Wu Yi, Vice-Premier, State Council of the People’s Republic of China, opened the Beijing Forum, which included presentations from the Chinese Minister for Health and the Minister for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China.

Many high level distinguished delegates at minister and vice minister levels, senior government officials from 45 countries and 13 NGOs attended the Forum. Overall, 260 invited international participants, 300 Chinese officials and 200 journalists gathered at the Forum to focus on an integrated approach to the prevention of foodborne diseases, the sharing of information and expertise, food safety education and capacity building and the facilitation of international trade in food and agricultural products.   

Health Claims Standard nearly there

A draft food standard for Nutrition, Health and Related Claims was approved by the Board at the end of March 2008. The standard was notified to the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council in April, at which time we  uploaded it onto our website.

So, after four years working on one of the most complex proposals we have ever had to deal with, we are now well under way to the beginning of the end of this project.

Meanwhile, our Nutrient Profile Scoring Criteria (NPSC) are already up on our website. It’s still a pilot version but we encourage you to use it and provide us with feedback.

The NPSC are essential reading for anyone wanting to make a health claim. Health claims relating to nutrients and biologically active substances can only be made on foods which are considered eligible on the basis of their overall nutrient profile, as determined by the NPSC.

The NPSC take account of energy, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, protein, fruit , vegetable , nuts and legumes content.

The FSANZ Consumer Liaison Committee expands

The FSANZ Board considers it essential that we have close dialogue with both the food industry and consumers so we are as well informed as possible about the needs of our principal stakeholders.

The Board acknowledged back in 2005 that the food industry through its various representative groups already had good lines of communication with FSANZ, but was concerned about lack of representation from consumers.

So, late in 2005, it endorsed a plan to establish a Consumer Liaison Committee (CLC) with a stipulation that we review its performance within 18 months. The Board subsequently declared the CLC would benefit by increasing its size to include representation from wider society.

We recently included six new members: one representative from the National Council of Women in both Australia (Ms Hean Bee Wee, from Adelaide) and New Zealand (Ms Heather Tate, of Roslyn), one representative of the Maori/Pacific islander community in New Zealand (Mr Hayden Potaka from Wanganui) and two representatives of indigenous Australians (Ms Nicole Turner from Kempsey, and Ms Sharon Thorpe, of Fitzroy). We also recruited an additional ‘grassroots’ consumer from New Zealand (Ms Anita Gatley from Auckland) to replace a former committee member so the committee is now 17 members strong.

We held an induction day for the new members to show them how FSANZ works. They were briefed by key staff members - including our Chief Executive Officer – on what FSANZ does and what their roles and responsibilities as committee members will be.

CLC Chair Wayne Cooper said he is happy with the new look committee and very pleased that FSANZ has included members with such a diversity of backgrounds and expertise.

“It means we now have a truly representative group and can expect real input from indigenous Australians and New Zealanders,” Mr Cooper said.

“I say that because many of the issues that indigenous people face, not just in food safety but more generally in nutrition and  in understanding the importance of diet and eating the right foods, are already widespread in the general population. And my understanding is that our new members are already heavily involved in such issues in their own communities so their input will help everyone, including FSANZ staff, understand some broader issues.

“That said, people will get out of this committee what they put into it. If everyone gets stuck in, as I’m sure they will, the process will work very well.”

Egg standard moves forward

FSANZ is well down the track with its Primary Production and Processing Standard for Eggs and Egg Products

This is the latest of a series of PPP standards we are developing to include in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code and we began work on it in September 2006.

The idea of PPP standards emerged in 2000 when the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to major changes to the food regulatory system, one of which was a mandate for FSANZ to address food safety across the entire food chain where appropriate.  

The Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council adopted a whole-of-chain approach to food safety in Australia in 2002 to facilitate a preventive approach to significant food safety risks across the food supply chain. PPP standards are mandatory national regulations, enforced by all States and Territories.  

FSANZ has since developed a PPP standard for seafood and dairy products and, as well as a PPP standard for eggs and egg products, we are also working on one for poultry meat.

FSANZ released the Initial Assessment Report for eggs and egg products for public consultation in December 2006, prompting valuable submissions from government, industry and consumers. The Standard Development Committee (SDC) subsequently discussed the issues raised in the submissions.

FSANZ’s Risk Assessment team, with assistance from an expert scientific panel, analysed the possible risks of egg contamination across the whole egg production chain, including on-farm, processing, handling and retail storage right through to human consumption. This report has now been through international peer review and will shortly be provided to the SDC for comment.

Now that FSANZ has identified the food safety risks, we are in the process of developing control measures to minimise those risks. We will also discuss these control measures with the SDC.  

A cost-benefit analysis of the different management options of addressing the food safety risks will then follow. The analysis will assess the impact of the different options for the standards on stakeholders who will be affected, for example egg producers, processors, retailers, governments and consumers.    

Following this analysis, FSANZ will prepare a draft standard for consideration by the FSANZ Board.  FSANZ is currently holding consultations with states and territories, plus the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, relating to the implementation of PPP standards as a whole.

New amendments gazetted this year

FSANZ has gazetted two amendments to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) so far in 2008.

Amendment 96 was gazetted on 21 February in Australia’s Food Standards Gazette and also published in the New Zealand Gazette on the same day.  The amendment takes effect immediately upon gazettal in Australia but in New Zealand the system requires gazettal of a Ministerial Notice as well.

Amendment 96 contains amendments to the following Standards in the Code:

1.3.1 – Food Additives

The Applications and Proposal which are covered by Amendment 96 are:

Amendment 97 was gazetted on 13 March and contains amendments to the following Standards in the Code:

The Applications and Proposal under which these amendments are made are as follows:

This information is available in full at the FSANZ website at: < http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/standardsdevelopment/gazettenotices/index.cfm >.

FSANZ seeks expressions of interest for Social Science Expert Advisory Group

FSANZ is seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified people to join a Social Science Expert Advisory Group (SSEAG). The SSEAG will provide advice on aspects of consumer and social sciences research for FSANZ, ensuring reliability and robustness in the research FSANZ uses to develop food standards.

The sort of people FSANZ is looking for will have suitable qualifications and academic and work experience in one or more of the following disciplines: social research methods and research design, social and behavioural psychology, risk perception, risk evaluation, decision-making, sociology, statistics, and other relevant social sciences fields. Specific experience in a social sciences field in one or more of the following areas would be highly desirable:

FSANZ’s Chief Executive Officer will appoint SSEAG members, who will serve in an honorary capacity, after a thorough selection process. The appointment will be for three years. The SSEAG will be primarily a virtual group but will meet twice yearly. Members are expected to attend an Induction Day on 18 June 2008 in Canberra. FSANZ will cover travel and associated expenses for this Induction Day for Australian and New Zealand members, in accordance with standard non-SES travel allowances.

If you are interested, please email Ms Marianne Hoey at the address below for an information pack and the selection criteria to address in your expression of interest. The closing date is Thursday 24 April 2008.

Ms Marianne Hoey
Social Scientist
Ph:    + 61 2 6271 2661
Fax: + 61 2 6271 2278
Email: marianne.hoey@foodstandards.gov.au .		Food Standards Australia New Zealand
PO Box 7186
Canberra Business Centre
ACT   2610   Australia

Bi-national consumer attitudes survey shows most people are positive about food safety

Nearly two thirds of Australians and a similar number of New Zealanders are confident about the safety of their food.

That’s a major finding of the FSANZ Consumer Attitude Survey that we conducted in 2007 to find out just what consumers in both countries think about the state of their food supply and how safe they think it is.

Australians ranked healthy eating fourth on a list of current issues of major concern to them, below drought and water shortages, household finances, the cost of living and pollution and environmental issues.  

They were less worried about food safety, ranking it twelfth in their list of concerns. A large proportion of Australians (43%) reported they felt food safety had remained ‘about the same’ over the past year with 22% saying it was ‘a little worse’ and a similar number saying it was ‘a little better’.

Even more New Zealanders said food safety had remained the same, while only 11% thought it was ‘a little worse’ and 23% said it was ‘a little better’.  Recognition of and confidence levels in those agencies regulating and monitoring the food supply were also high, though in Australia confidence in the work of FSANZ was significantly higher than for all organisations regulating and monitoring food.

More than 60 per cent of Australians and 52%  of New Zealanders said they were aware of FSANZ.  Consumers’ need for nutritional information on labels and their belief in their ability to make an informed decision about the product from the label also featured strongly, though only about half in either country said they trust food labels.

The most commonly referred-to label information was the best before/use by date (73.1%), the amount of fat (61.8%), country of origin (59.1%) and the amount of sugar (56.5%).  Food poisoning, by bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, imported foods and food hygiene were the three key concerns regarding general food issues.

Almost a third of Australians and New Zealanders said they thought they had suffered food poisoning during the previous year, though two thirds of them did not report it to anyone. About a tenth of those who were sick thought it had something to do with home cooking.

Despite the figures, more than 80% answered five or above on a scale of one to seven where seven was ‘I know everything there is to know about food/hygiene/food safety’. This finding is in line with a recent Food Safety Information Council survey.

More people thought there should be a high level of regulation to manage food safety (44% of Australians and 30% of New Zealanders) compared with public health issues such as obesity (28% of Australians and 18% of New Zealanders).

The Consumer Attitude Survey 2007 is available here

Food standard for mandatory iodine fortification gazetted in New Zealand with Australia to follow

FSANZ has developed a food standard requiring the mandatory replacement of salt with iodised salt in bread for New Zealand.  FSANZ approved the mandatory replacement of salt with iodised salt in bread because there is a serious population-wide iodine deficiency in New Zealand. This standard was gazetted in March 2008.

The level of iodine fortification we proposed is considered safe and will alleviate the existing deficiency in much of the New Zealand population. FSANZ selected bread as the preferred food vehicle because it is eaten widely and consistently throughout the population, has minimal trade effects and is technologically feasible.

Bread represented as organic is exempt from the mandatory requirement. Further, the long standing voluntary permission to add iodine to salt will be retained and the iodisation level is consistent with the mandatory requirement.

We recognise the potential costs to the food industry of re-labelling and label write-offs so have set the implementation of the standard at September 2009, which coincides with the labelling changes required for mandatory folic acid fortification. In New Zealand, this will also give time for the salt industry to increase production of iodised salt.

Recently, FSANZ received advice from the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council indicating that the prevalence and severity of iodine deficiency in Australia is also significant and warrants mandatory fortification. We have therefore prepared a new proposal to amend the New Zealand-only standard to become a joint standard for both Australia and New Zealand. 

Chair of UK Food Standards Agency meets FSANZ Board

Dame Deidre Hutton, Chair of the UK Food Standards Agency, recently met the FSANZ Board and staff to discuss common food safety issues.

At the meeting, FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said he was pleased that the UKFSA and FSANZ signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2007 because it enabled both agencies to do good work together.  It has allowed both agencies to share valuable information and cooperate on chemical safety issues, food incidents and emergency responses, and social research, Mr McCutcheon said.

Dame Deidre said the two agencies work in a similar environment and share many of the same issues. Both, for example, see the public health significance of the mandatory fortification of food with folic acid. They are also working to develop regulatory frameworks for health claims aimed at assisting consumers to make informed choices about their food.

FSANZ and the UKFSA agreed to continue information sharing into the future and cooperative action could include:

Dame Deirdre became Chair of the UKFSA Food Standards Agency in July 2005. She has served on a number of public bodies and has considerable experience of corporate governance, risk-based regulation and consumer policy. She is a member of the European Food Safety Authority Management Board and has recently been appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Institute of Food Science and Technology. For five years she was Chair of the National Consumer Council.

FSANZ holds more conferences over the internet

FSANZ is now increasingly using the internet as a seminar medium - we call them webinars, following a series of successful trials.  We ran our first pilot trial of a webinar in December 2006 and everyone who took part said they liked the idea and wanted more of them.

Webinars are on-line seminars delivered in real time over the Internet with audio, video and slideshow capabilities. You can attend without leaving your home or office as long as you have a computer and phone.  .

At the first FSANZ webinar, 20 people took part and discussed:

Other webinar subjects we have held since then are:

You can listen to any of these webinars on our website here. f you want to listen in your own time and space, we have now arranged for the webinars to be downloadable onto MP3 players.

Obesity seminar an eye opener

Health experts worldwide agree one of the biggest and growing challenges for governments and health services is obesity. What they cannot agree on is what causes obesity and what to do about it.

To learn more about the subject, its drivers, causes and effects, FSANZ hosted a seminar on obesity.

While FSANZ is not a policy setting agency and has no role in developing policy options for government, we felt it important to learn about the extent of the problem to give our staff a better understanding of the full spectrum of evidence-based research. So we invited five speakers to share their knowledge:

Ms Melanie Fisher, General Manager Food Standards (Canberra), chaired the seminar and expressed the quandary many regulators, scientists and consumers find themselves in.

“We need to debate obesity but such debate can be diverse and divisive,” Ms Fisher said.  “Take functional foods, for example, the food industry says they will not affect obesity but consumer groups say they will. And they all produce their own proofs.”  Dr Mohr opened the session saying that, as a psychologist, his focus is on individuals, and individuals seldom realise the problem of obesity applies to them.

“There are a number of levels of awareness people have to pass through,” Dr Mohr said, adding that it is not easy to persuade people of the seriousness of their problem – something they believe happens to other people, not them.  

“A person’s belief in the effectiveness of the behaviour needed to achieve a particular end (such as going on a diet) will vary with the perceived risk.”

Dr Dixon said obesity is the outcome of three transitions:nutrition– where there is an increase in the diet of energy rich foods; physical activity– where there is a decrease in energy expenditure due to an increase in labour saving technologies; and cultural– where knowledge, attitudes and practices change as community traditions recede and markets exert a greater influence on everyday life.

She said in mono culinary cultures, like Japan, people are less obese than in diverse culinary cultures, like Australia and the United States.  The problem can be magnified when there is a multiplication of advice from government authorities and industry, which spawns confusion and anxiety, lack of agreement among experts and where the traditional nutritional gatekeeper (the mother) is absent from the home.

To protect the community from obesity Dr Dixon said we must:

For Dr Germov, obesity has social determinants and he noted that obesity rates are higher among indigenous Australians (almost double), people with low socioeconomic status, low income and no tertiary qualifications (he noted that low socioeconomic status suburbs have higher concentrations of fast food outlets) and people aged between 45 and 64.  The explanations for these trends remain under-researched, yet suggest the social patterning of obesity indicate researchers should move beyond the individual risk factor approach.

“It is a social fact; we need to address the social dynamics of obesity,” Dr Germov said.  Prof. Gluckman spoke about developmental pathways to obesity and that if someone is fat as a child they are likely to remain so into adult life.

“Fat mothers give birth to fat kids,” he said. “Genetic inheritance accounts for up to 40% of the risk of becoming fat.”

Further, developmental factors suggest that if a baby in the womb believes it will be born into a difficult environment it will put on weight more quickly than if it believes the environment will be benign or favourable, Prof. Gluckman added.  Yet despite the speakers producing a wealth of research and statistics to support their theories, they could agree on little more than generalities about the causes and treatments for obesity.

By the end of the session, which was fascinatingly wide-ranging, Ms Fisher’s introductory remarks about an obesity debate being diverse and divisive seemed among the most pertinent of the day.  An indication of the seminar’s success was that FSANZ staff discussed it at length for some time afterwards, commenting that it was not only thought provoking, but provided a broader intellectual context around some of the issues FSANZ faces in developing standards.

Food industry ‘Pantry List’ advises on food safety in emergencies

Australia ’s Food Industry Working Group has launched a national plan to ensure people can find food and essential supplies in the event of an emergency or public health issue.

Part of the plan includes essential advice on how to keep food fresh and safe when power and other essential services are not available.

In co-operation with the Australian Government and the state and territory governments, supermarket retailers and the food sector, the group has published a Pantry List – literally a list of essential items necessary for coping with an emergency – together with advice on how to prepare and deal with an emergency and be self-sufficient for long periods of confinement.

Recent events, such as Cyclone Larry, have shown that average households do not have more than three days worth of essential food and other items to cope with an emergency.

While most emergencies will only extend over a few days, the Pantry List plans for a 14 day stay at home (possibly without water or electricity) by advising people how to build and rotate critical items in their pantries to ensure they remain fresh if they cannot get to shops.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland officially launched the list, and its website www.pantrylist.com.au , late last February.

Mr McClelland said that although Australia has a first class emergency management system, the simple fact is that any emergency puts strain on the system.

“The more individuals can do to be prepared, the better the emergency services and emergency management volunteers can direct their resources to where they’re needed most,” he said.

Food Industry Working Group spokesman and National Technical Services Manager for Metcash, Mr Steven Newton, said research shows that households do not have enough food or other essential supplies in their pantries in the event of a natural or man made disaster.

“The Pantry List gives consumers for the first time a detailed guide to items to give them a high degree of confidence and security by helping them be more independent during the crisis,” Mr Stevens said.

He added that the list will also reduce the chaos and pressure at retailer outlets and their supply chains if an emergency does occur.